Category: Book reviews

‘Tower of Dawn’ is the sixth book in the seven-piece fantasy
series ‘Throne of Glass’ by Sarah J Maas. It follows the journey of Chaol and
Nesryn as they set off to heal Chaol’s injury and obtain an army to follow them
home.

The Southern Continent is a good addition to the world of Erilea and provides an interesting focus on diversity which was strongly lacking in the previous books.

The plot is weaved with care, placing the characters’
journey to each other in the centre. I could see the twist coming from pages
away but it did not ruin my experience because as with all other books of Ms
Maas’, you’re in it for the banter and the ships blossoming left, right and centre.

I liked the pacing, which is one of Ms Maas’s strong points
as a writer – there is good mix of action, romance and reflection time, all of
which flow nicely from one to the next, making the story coherent and
incredibly easy to read.

‘Tower of Dawn’ does not follow any other of the main characters from books 1-5 which I thought would be a minus but was actually a surprisingly nice change of scenery. Having fallen out of love with Chaol, and never liking Nesryn, I actually adored them both towards the end of this book. It happens rarely with me, so well done, Ms Maas.

The whole plot line about Chaol’s healing process is magnificently written – it is a great description of dealing with trauma and the ending to that storyline is painfully realistic. I will not spoil more but as someone battling with mental health on the daily, I appreciated the care in the depiction of something which could have been easily glossed over for a hearty HEA.

The only issue I have with this book, and the others in the
series, is the writing. It is repetitive and too overdramatic sometimes. There is
lots of purple prose in the descriptions and while I enjoyed some of them, I
found myself scanning paragraphs and skipping ahead, which is never good. The
language is conversational and easy to read. YA readers would have no problem
with this book. Their parents, however, might not approve of some of the
graphic sex scenes inside.

‘The Assassin’s Blade’ is the collection of five prequel novellas to the seven-piece fantasy series ‘Throne of Glass’ by Sarah J Maas. It follows the journey of Celeana before the events of any of the other books unfold and gives insight into some of her personality and reasoning, together with expanding on and introducing some other relevant side characters.

The world of Erilea is well-developed if you look at the
series as a whole but if you read the prequels first, it appears scattered and
disjointed. These are definitely not standalone novellas. A good addition to
the series nonetheless.

The plot and pacing of each novella are well-developed.
Those are some tight stories; and compared to the novels are much better in how
they were built as a piece of writing. Each having a specific purpose to
explain a certain thing, they work really well without wasting too many words
on unnecessary descriptions or world-building.

The characters are well-written and well-placed to provide Celaena with a bouquet of life experiences that made her the fearless warrior queen that she is. When reading the series, I did think there were times Calaena behaved oddly, without any good reason backing her actions. This book provides that additional insight into who this character really is.

The side characters are really strong. My favourites were Yrene and Sam – well done, Ms Maas. In contrast to the more explicit love scenes in the other books, the innocent love between Sam and Caleana was refreshing – both beautiful and sad, as the readers know the outcome. I felt genuinely heartbroken every time they would talk about the future.

The writing is good. It made me turn the pages without
thinking too much about sentences and word choice despite some repetitions. The
language is conversational and easy to read. YA readers would have no problem
with this book.

‘Bright Ruin’ is the last novel of Vic James’s debut series about an alternative United Kingdom which has plenty of magic, political and sociological issues, emotionally and physically tortured people and lots and lots of intrigue.

The world is as beautiful as before but
seems to sit at a standstill. With too many character arcs to consider and
finish off, there is little room for expansion of the world. Second book made
me think we would see more of the international world but this was not the case
unfortunately.

The plot flows nicely from the last
book. It is all about tying loose ends for all the scattered characters and
making opportunities for them to end up at the same place in the end. A
completely new storyline is introduced (The King) which was interesting but
also seemed rushed and unfinished. Its only purpose seemed to be to set up the
end for Silyen and Luke; and I can’t say that was too successful either.

The characters are still this novel’s strongest point. There is not much development in this book, it feels like Ms James was rushing to make sure everyone gets a coherent ending. The whole thing with Luke and Silyen was just odd and while I thoroughly enjoyed one particular scene (wink, wink) it was a lot less than I was hoping for.

Romances were developed only to have
parts of them ripped apart by death, so it was very bittersweet – no one was
safe and a few plot twists made me really unhappy as I was invested in the
characters. What was the point of getting into so much detail if they were just
destined to die soon after being introduced as a character/couple?

The writing style is still as
beautiful. Very polished. Ms James writes eloquently and commands language very
well to provide the reader with an easy way to distinguish which character’s
POV they are currently observing the story from.

The
Panda Meter

World 🐼🐼🐼

Plot 🐼🐼🐼

Characters 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Pace 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Writing Style 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Plus half a 🐼 for the ending. It was a realistic, open ending. Things were heavily implied so as far as I’m concerned there were no cliffhangers. But spin-off please?

Good Omens
is basically a classic of the comedy genre. In the edition I read, the authors
even acknowledge it themselves. And now that Amazon Prime Now and BBC 2 have
picked up the people’s favourite apocalypse story for a series, the book is
once again in the spotlight.

Before I get into the specifics, I want to say I massively enjoyed this book. On other occasions I had tried to read Pratchett’s work and Gaiman’s work but couldn’t find it in myself to enjoy them. Something was missing for me. And somehow, this collaboration filled those missing bits and created a book I could not only finish, but also enjoy immensely along the way. To that, I say ‘Bravo!’

The plot is a quirky retelling of the popular doomsday idea, all mixed with the Antichrist, angels and devils, the Four Horsemen and humans being weird and wonderful. In itself it’s nothing new but the way the characters interact with the whole concept is outstandingly done.

Pacing for me was a bit off, the first half of the book was a bit of a drag and I persevered only because the jokes were good. In that sense, it seemed very much like a normal Pratchett novel. But as the Apocalypse started happening, and the action picked up, it was as if Gaiman took the reins and brought these characters together into what seemed to be a perfect finale. I know that’s not how the writing happened but it sure felt like it.

The
characters are the best part of this book. They are diverse, likeable and
thought-through. The banter between Crowley and Aziraphale was to die for. (See
what I did there?) My favourite character was Anathema Device, not only because
she was both funny and inspiringly dedicated, but also because the prophecies
of her ancestors were a very innovative way of storytelling which provided both
plot progression and world building.

The writing style was impeccable, which is nothing to be unexpected from two brilliant authors. The sentences were beautiful and some of the amazing comparisons seemed to be so creative, I would stop to read them twice and mull over how someone could come up with them.

‘Tarnished city’ is the second novel of
Vic James’s debut series about an alternative United Kingdom which has plenty
of magic, political and sociological issues, emotionally and physically
tortured people and lots and lots of intrigue.

The world expands before the reader in
this book, introducing not only international aspects but also a different
dimension – the world made of Skill. Some questions are answered (How is the UK
allowed such atrocities, what about phones and social media?) while other are
raised continuously to attract the reader’s attention (Where does Skill come
from? What is it exactly?)

The plot thickens following events from
the first book. The pace is improving. There is more of the characters
interacting and less about them casually mentioning the history of things. The
story is definitely a lot more compelling and had me turning pages like crazy.
Magnificent endings to chapters made me crave just one page more and unexpected
plot twists sparing no one’s fate kept me at the edge of my seat. I’m
definitely hooked at this point.

The characters are still this novel’s strongest point. Silyen! Gavar! Bouda! I am exclaiming because they have grown so much and have been built so beautifully I would struggle to review this without spoilers. So I will leave it at this – read on, you won’t be disappointed. Multi-faceted characters are my drug of choice.

The romance part of the story blossoms in this book. I find myself frequently gasping as I read the well-written scenes of the characters exploring their never-simple feelings for themselves and each other. I have a few predictions for unexpected couples following events in this book – and this is the best compliment to an author – keep readers interested, keep them guessing, keep them shipping!

The writing style is still as beautiful.
Ms James writes eloquently and command language very well to provide the reader
with an easy way to distinguish which character’s POV they are currently
observing the story from. Only reason this section did not receive five stars
is that the more obscure words are not always suitable to the books YA audience
and some teenagers might find it difficult to read.

The
Panda Meter

World 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Plot 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Characters 🐼🐼🐼🐼🐼

Pace 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Writing Style 🐼🐼🐼🐼

Minus half a 🐼 for the cliffhanger
ending. I’m biased because I hate them in all media. Sorry not sorry!